1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing control technique in the event of performing printing of multiple copies.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, there has been a technique whereby, in the case that a printing request occurs which specifies printing multiple copies of the same page, printing data is generated that can be interpreted by the printer, the generated printing data is saved in a storage device such as a hard disk, and the already-generated printing data is referenced for the second copy and thereafter. Thus, performing processing to generate the printing data again is not required in the case of printing the same page, and the processing of the second copy and thereafter can be performed at high speed. Generally, as methods to perform printing of multiple copies, there are a method to continuously output multiple copies of each page, and a method to output with collating copies. With the method to continuously output multiple copies of each page, for example in the case of printing two copies of three pages, printing for each page is performed in the sequence of 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3. On the other hand, with the method to output with collating copies, for example in the case of printing two copies of three pages, printing for each page is performed in the sequence of 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3.
In the case of performing the former printing of multiple copies, the printing of the same page is always continuous. Therefore, in the case of applying the method to save and reference the printing data, the printing data to be saved is one page worth at the most. On the other hand, in the case of performing the latter printing of multiple copies, in order to utilize the already-generated printing data for the printing of the second copy and thereafter, the printing data worth the number of pages in the job has to be saved. Accordingly, in the case that the number of pages in the job is large, there may be cases wherein all of the printing data cannot be stored in the storage device within the host computer or printer. To resolve this, there is a technique to save the printing data for the current page only in the case that determination is made that the data can be stored in the storage device (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-202822).